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Would You Dare Stay The Night In Britain’s Most Haunted Prison?

Are you brave enough to spend the night in one of the scariest prisons in the world? Haunted Happenings have gained exclusive access to one of the most terrifying prisons in the UK, in order to search for the ghosts of the murderers and criminals that were given life sentences and died in the notorious buildings.

The prison in question is Somerset’s HMP Shepton Mallet, also known as Cornhill, which has been abandoned since it closed in 2013. Even though the last prisoners left almost five years ago, it’s still eerily creepy – and some say haunted. Before it closed, it was the oldest prison in the UK, having held some of the UK’s most dangerous criminals since as far back as the 18th century.

And when we say ‘criminals’, we’re not just talking Dickensian pickpockets. HMP Shepton Mallet was a Category C Lifer Prison, incarcerating the most hardened and dangerous of criminals – including notorious East London gangsters the Kray twins in the 1960s.

But the brutal history goes back hundreds of years. In the 18th century, male and female prisoners rotted in HMP Shepton Mallet, and were put to work on a giant treadmill wheel where 40 people would tread the wheel at a time. If you went in there feeling healthy, you certainly wouldn’t come out that way.

It’s said that the corpses of former prisoners lie in in unmarked graves across the prison. No one knows for sure how many executions took place at the prison, but it was turned into a military prison during WWII, and 18 American soldiers were executed by hanging and firing squads for crimes such as murder and rape.

That’s three centuries’ worth of ghosts – potentially, this place could be packed with ghouls.

So what happens on the ghost hunt? Well, the organisers promise it will be nothing short of ‘intense’ and you will ‘need to keep your wits about you’.

In small teams, you’ll conduct all manner of experiments – think ouija boards, table tipping, glass moving and some intense watch-and-wait vigils, with up-to-date ghost hunting equipment. Personally I’m not sure what this ghost hunting equipment might be, but I have seen Ghostbusters so I’m familiar with the concept. Don’t cross the streams!

Even walking through the prison is creepy. Like any abandoned building, it’s dark and intimidating – the former convicts’ presence can still be felt, and even seen through the graffiti they have left.

The Ghost Hunt is so popular that it’s sold out until January – click here to book yourself in for the next one. It’d certainly make for a birthday (or stag do?) to remember and it’s pretty decently priced – only £59 ($80) per person.You’d better book quickly, though, as developers are going to turn the prison into flats. Supernatural neighbours, anyone?